The Lost Kingdom
by Zanyeh
Summary: Cardverse AU - the Ace of Spades is the greatest traitor in history, for singlehandedly destroying the Spade Kingdom. In turn, the remaining Kingdoms are on high alert to catch the renegade Ace. What everybody does not know that is an evil is rising, threatening to destroy the remaining kingdoms; and the only one who can stop this evil is the Ace of Spades.
1. Prologue

On December 13th, the year 666, the greatest disaster in the history of the Board had occurred.

The Fall of the Spade Kingdom.

King Alfred F. Jones the Spade King, Queen Arthur Kirkland the Spade Queen and Yao the Spade Jack were killed in a very bloody homicide committed by the greatest traitor in history – the Ace of Spades.

It is unknown why would the Ace of Spades execute regicide against the Spade royals. Many speculate it was because the King declared war against the Club Kingdom, but the Ace refused to participate, causing a very vicious and heated argument in which the Queen and Jack sided with the King.

Betrayed, the Ace decided to kill the Spade royals in cold blood to show everyone that they are not to be rifled against; willing to slaughter anyone who dares to get in their way. Several eye witness reports from servants of the Spade Palace saw the Ace of Spades mercilessly killing off the King, Queen and Jack in the most agonizing methods imaginable. But when the Ace finished their act of treason, they and the dead bodies instantaneously vanished with magic.

No one is able to clarify these reports since it is known that all of the Kingdoms' palaces are magic-guarded – only a King, Queen, Jack or Ace is capable of allowing outsiders inside their respective homes. The authorities could only rely on the memories of the servants they extracted from them.

Oddly enough, there was no new successors to claim the Spade royal positions; and with no ruler on the Throne, all of Spade territory became an anarchy. Eventually, every Spade citizen fled the ruined territories for it was being overrun by creatures of grim and devastation.

To this day, the remaining three kingdoms are on high alert to locate the traitorous Ace of Spades and bring them into justice. An enormous bounty is on their head for their capture dead or alive.

Unfortunately, no one knows who is the Ace of Spades. Any and all information pertaining about the Spade Ace is non-existent…as if they never existed. Strangely, not even the rulers of the other kingdoms could recall the traitor. They do not even recall if they are a male or female.

Some believe they are remained in the ruins of the Spade Kingdom; others believe the Ace was able to get the Jokers to transport them to a different location. Despite these ridiculous claims, everybody knows that the Ace of Spades is still at large and the authorities will stop at nothing to bring them in and demand justice-

" _Next stop, Axis City._ "

A sigh escaped the teenager's lips as he closed his book before retreating it under his brown cloak. He exited off the train undetected by anyone. His head hung low, facing the ground as he slipped past security easily, exiting the platform and heading to the Heart Kingdom's capital.

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own Hetalia**

I feel I didn't do a very good job with the prologue. I am very self-conscious of my work and my focus and confidence tends to dissipate; and also I have a tendency to skim stuff and be rather impatient. Maybe I'll rewrite the prologue.


	2. Blind Surprise

The Heart Kingdom's Grand Ballroom was tastefully decorated with warm pink, red and white tones as its traditional (and typical) theme. The room shone brightly because of the powerful light producing from its chandelier bouncing off the marble. The red refreshment table was filled with food of Japanese, German and Italian origin. The Grand Ballroom was filled with every important Heart Kingdom citizen, all having a quite leisurely and casual evening. While the important guests were surrounding with important individuals, guards were scattered about, carefully eyeing the surroundings for any possible threat that they may occur.

Lovino scowled unhappily. Oh how he despised being at the annual Heart Kingdom party, exclusive to only important and distinguished natives. He just wanted to go to bed. His hazel eyes flickered to where the main attraction was. He saw his (idiot) brother clinging onto the potato bastard while trying to have a conversation with the feminine Japanese lady-man.

King Ludwig Beilschmidt of Hearts; Queen Kiku Honda of Hearts; Jack Feliciano Vargas of Hearts; and the Ace of Hearts, Lovino Vargas. The positions chosen by the Gods – a destiny no one was allowed to escape.

His (idiot) twin brother, the Jack of the Heart Kingdom. Unbelievable. That day when Lovino and Feliciano discovered their roles was to be the new Jack and Ace of Hearts, _boy_ did Lovino had a fit.

Lovino wanted to stay in the Diamond Kingdom where the citizens normally would never have to worry about work; just leisure and entertainment. Living in Diamond territory was easy…if you meet certain requirements, then you would practically guaranteed success and happiness. The Vargas family had the entire package: attractive, famous, talented and rich. All of it came from Romulus Vargas, Lovino and Feliciano's grandfather. He was the Diamond Kingdom's greatest accomplishment.

Romulus was a very gifted, though simple man who accomplished many great things in his entire life. He was such a smooth-talking Casanova who can charm both women _and_ men with just a single seductive look (which led to him having _many_ children and grandchildren). Their grandfather's talents lay in the fine arts of music and actual art and he was very famous for his numerous and large variety of artwork which continue to hang in the Diamond Kingdom's Palace. While his hobbies in the fine arts gave him a vast and sturdy fortune, he was most famous for being a powerful warrior who could easily trump any soldier from the Heart Kingdom's military. So, it was no curiosity when their grandfather was chosen to be the King of Diamonds. The twins grew up in the Diamond Palace, surrounded by wealth, luxury and servants.

Without a doubt was Feliciano Romulus's grandson since he inherited their grandfather's talent of art and appreciation of music and the beauty of life. Unfortunately, he also inherited their grandfather's intelligence (or lack thereof). Feliciano was Grandpa Rome's (when they were little boys, they'd call their grandfather 'Rome' since 'Romulus' was too long) legacy – he was almost androgynously attractive (he was mistaken for a girl allot when they were little), he has a nice personality that everybody found irresistibly adorable (which contributed to the girl situation), he is talented with his hands when it comes to food, art, and music, and he's actually a very skilled fencer.

As for Lovino, while he's not as gifted as his younger twin brother, he was the heir to their grandfather's vast wealth and the inheritor of the large and powerful businesses Romulus started when he was in Club. Well, he didn't need to take over as head of the companies since someone else would be hired to run it in his place while he takes the profits or the royalty payments or whatever they're called. Also, apparently, Lovino gets the mafia that had been dominating Club in the shadows for many decades and sometimes got involved with some of their operations.

You'd think a talented fencer and a future boss of a very powerful mafia would be fearless and dominating and frightening, right?

Wrong.

Because of their upbringing growing up, both twins ended up as cowards. Though, what the twins thought they did not needed to be brave since they believed they were going to stay in Diamond forever, getting the easy way out. So, there was no need for them to toughen up too much.

Boy, were they wrong.

When they discovered their future roles, they were forced into the Heart Kingdom, leaving the life they knew forever behind. It was terrible there since the Hearts are a very military-based society and conscription is mandatory for everyone. No exceptions unless you can prove there was something (seriously) wrong with you. (Being a pampered crybaby and a foul-mouth jerk didn't cut it.)

The Vargas twins were not made for actual combat and the hard life; those two could have been famous chefs or artists if they had stayed in Diamond. They lived a very soft life in Diamond and was not used to very cruel and brutal training. It was so hard for them to readjust to a completely foreign lifestyle that wanted all Chosen roles to be high-ranking soldiers in the military. It was an unspoken rule; it was preferred that the King, Queen, Jack and Ace had high ranks in the military. Traditionally, the King of Hearts controlled the army; the Queen, the navy; and the Jack controlled the air-force. As the Ace, the Ace was the leader of an elite squadron that specialized in dangerous, covert operations.

Training was absolute hell.

As much as Lovino wanted to run away and go back to Diamond, he couldn't because of Feliciano. Apparently, despite Feliciano's rather poor ability to adapt to such a harsh environment, he became best friends with Ludwig Beilschmidt who later revealed to be the future King of Hearts and became very close friends with Kiku Honda who'd later become the future Queen of Hearts. Feliciano stayed because of them (mostly because of the German bastard). But Lovino suspected it was because Ludwig looked disturbingly similar to his brother's first love interest who had to move to the Heart Kingdom and stopped sending letters.

Oh, how he disliked Ludwig. German and the constant, hurtful reminder for his brother's soft heart.

With Ludwig's help, Feliciano was able to survive through training and become a decent Jack of Hearts. As for Lovino, he was subjugated to much harsher training that continued longer. But, he took it like a man and persevered through it to make sure his brother would be okay.

Neither Feliciano or Lovino had visited the Diamond Kingdom in years since their duties as Jack and Ace consumed much of their time; every visit there was just for official business. They occasionally meet up with their distant relatives since some of them became part of the royal court themselves. Apparently, Francis Bonnefoy, a distant relative of theirs, became the new King of Diamonds. It was no surprise, really.

Lovino sighed angrily. This event was simply boring. Despite actually being somewhat poor at fighting, the older Vargas twin grew accustomed to the exciting and rambunctious lifestyle of an Ace. Also, it irritated him that he had to play nice with a group of people he can hardly call important or acquainted with. It disgusted him. He bet half of these morons were here just to get into the King and Queen's good graces or take advantage of such an event where the most powerful and influential of people gathered. He hated being nice to people he could care less about.

He leaned against the wall bored and irritated. He just wanted this day to be over.

"Well, hello there~" cooed a flirty and interested accented voice that sounded Spanish.

Startled, Lovino found himself staring into vibrant emerald green eyes. A very handsome young man with lightly-tanned skin, somewhat curly brown hair and a cheerful smile on his peppy face was in front of him. This man wore a pink suit laced with red. Lovino felt his face growing warm as he continued to examine this man.

"What do you want, bastard?" the Ace of Hearts spat out harshly, glaring at the stranger.

The man merely laughed at the hostility. "¡Hola!" he greeted cheerfully. "I am Antonio Fernández Carriedo!"

"I didn't ask for introductions."

The man pouted a little. "Aww…you don't recognize me?"

For a moment, Lovino stared at the stranger. He _did_ seem awfully familiar. Then it clicked.

"Aren't you the Sushi Bastard's second-in-command or something?"

A brief moment of confusion fell on Antonio's face before lighting up happily. "¡Si! I am the Admiral of the Heart Kingdom's armada!"

Lovino was somewhat surprised. For a moment, he genuinely thought Antonio was from Diamond territory (all of the attractive people were there). But then again…the cheerful Spaniard had the build to be a naval officer. N-not that he was looking or anything!

"Well, good for you." The Ace replied back curtly. He folded arms and glared. "What do you want?"

Antonio tilted his head to the side just a tad seemingly innocent. "Oh? What do you mean?" he asked with a big smile.

"You clearly want something. I'm _not_ waiting here all night just to find out what is your damn favor. What is it?"

Instead of people's usual reaction of being frightened, angered or irritated with such sharpness, the man simply laughed at Lovino's offhanded statement.

"I like you!" the Heart Kingdom Admiral stated truthfully; no malicious expressed anywhere on his face. "Si, I wanted to ask you if you would-"

Lovino rolled his eyes. _Here we go…_

"-like to dance with me."

That caught the Ace of Hearts completely off-guard.

Someone…wanted to dance? With _him_? The only people would ever ask to dance with him would be just his brother because he didn't want his big brother to feel left out. Cannot help feeling somewhat suspicious (though flattered), Lovino narrowed his eyes at the Spaniard. "Why?" he asked slowly. There had to be an ulterior motive.

"Because you're so cute!" Antonio replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

All Lovino could do was sputter in shock and blush. "I-I am not, bastard!"

"Aww! You're so shy!" the Admiral gushed out happily.

"Shut up!" Lovino quickly stormed off to the refreshment table to indulge himself in something with tomatoes. He needed some tomatoes. He grabbed a plate and filled it with Caprese salad. He grumbled under his breath about annoying bastards until something caught his eye.

He saw a person wearing a brown cloak that covered their entire face and body slipping past people unnoticed.

Lovino's eyes shot up in disbelief. How could anybody miss such a suspicious character like that in the middle of the ballroom filled with people? And how the fuck did he slip past the guards?! He set his plate down on the table and quickly followed after the mysterious person.

He quickly paced towards the cloaked individual. "Hey!"

Everybody froze and looked at Lovino in shock and in question. The cloaked figure froze as well, but tried to move, thinking that it was someone else who being called for.

"Who the fuck are you? How did you slip past security?" Lovino demanded.

The guests and the Royals were very stunned at their Ace. Why was he yelling at no one?

"Fratello, is there something wrong?" Feliciano asked, running to his brother's side.

The older Italian brother stared at his younger brother in disbelief. "Are you fucking serious? There's this cloaked weirdo standing right in _front_ of us! Are you all blind?!" he wildly gestured towards the unseen stranger.

"…Fratello, do you need to rest? You can leave if you want." Feliciano offered.

"Can you _not_ see the stranger that is standing right there in front – hey, where'd they go?!" Lovino berated his brother, not realizing the mysterious figure just disappeared. His eyes wildly searched the entire room only to find the weirdo had just vanished.

"Fratello, maybe you should go to your room and rest." Feliciano insisted.

Lovino wanted to rebuke his brother's offer, but then realized he was being stared at. He sighed in defeat and irritation. "Fine. I don't want to be here anyway." He huffed, walking out the ballroom.

The Ace made his way up the Grand Staircase and to the designated hallways where his bedroom was. His hand was on the doorknob until he heard clattering coming from down the hall. He cautiously and quietly followed the noise where it lead him to Queen Kiku's room. The door was slightly opened and there was light dimly pouring through the crack. Lovino placed his eye between the crack.

It was the same cloaked stranger from the ballroom! The Queen's royal chamber was in ruins – books thrown off the shelves and onto the floor, papers, paintings, clothes and curtains ripped off, every available and possible hiding spots opened and flipped over. The perpetrator was digging through the chest's contents, throwing any items that weren't useful to them. Eventually, they quickly examined a worn-out brown leathered book that was very thick. _Bible_ thick.

Lovino gritted his teeth and abruptly slammed the door open. "YOU!" he roared.

The stranger gasped in surprise, startled and nearly dropping the book. They snapped their fingers, causing them to immediately dissipate from sight. The Italian ran into the room to feel if the person was still there.

Nope, they were not.

The Ace ran out of the bedroom and quickly searched through the other rooms and the office. They weren't there! Lovino ran out the hallway and to the top of the Grand Staircase to see the same mysterious individual running towards the ballroom again. He quickly followed in after him.

The Ace of Hearts ran down the stairway and was on the person's trail. He quickly gained distance between him and the perpetrator because of the Vargas twins' strange talent to run very, very fast if properly motivated.

"Come back here!" he yelled in a vain attempt.

When he was close enough for a clear shot, Lovino pounced onto the person, causing the both of them roll and smash through the Grand ballroom doors, into the middle of the room. The Ace of Hearts and the perpetrator were wrestling against each other. Lovino was on top of the stranger, his hands harshly gripping the person's thin wrists, struggling to pin their thin though astonishingly strong arms to the ground.

"Lovino Vargas, what is the meaning of this?!" King Ludwig demanded of the Ace of Hearts who was making a scene in front of important guests. Why was he wrestling the air? Was he acting?

"Fratello, what are you doing?!" Feliciano cried out in worry.

"You bastard! Give it back!" Lovino demanded, ignoring the King and his brother.

Immediately, the perpetrator smashed their forehead against the Ace's, causing the latter to recoil in pain. They took the opportunity to push the Ace off and tried fleeing, but Lovino grabbed onto the former's robes and was tugging them back. The thief tried to remove Lovino's grip on their cloak, but it was unsuccessful. They didn't want their robes to be torn.

"Fratello!" the Jack of Hearts cried out. "What is going on?!"

"This bastard stole something from the Queen's chambers!" Lovino replied through clenched teeth, determined to not lose the tug-of-war contest.

"Lovi, who are you talking about? We don't see anybody!"

"What?!" Lovino's eyebrows furrowed until something clicked. "They must be using magic! They must have enchanted their cloak!" And with a mighty tug, Lovino managed to rip the robes off of the person, causing them to awkwardly land onto the floor.

The guests and the Heart Royal Court now were able to see this person perfectly like their Ace. The perpetrator was a young male with slightly wavy golden blonde locks with a renegade blonde curl bouncing in front. He wore a worn-out commoner's outfit – a pale pink dress shirt, a green vast, dirty yellow khakis and black loafers and gloves. There was a black choker that wrapped around his thin neck. He lifted his head upwards.

Everybody gasped in absolute shock.

This young man had flawless alabaster skin and big and soft violet-blue eyes. What shocked everybody so greatly was his face. His face looked exactly like-

"A-Alfred…" Kiku, the Queen of Hearts, choked out; his dark chocolate brown eyes normally distant were filled with emotion and very well near tears as his pale trembling hand was lifted to cover his gaping mouth.

It couldn't be…

Alfred.

Alfred F. Jones.

The deceased and final King of the destroyed Spade Kingdom.

He was alive.

* * *

Sorry if this chapter seems rushed and lack detail. And my apologies if the characters seem OC; this is my first time, okay!


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